Just a quick announcement that we will be hosting another Get Simple seminar, in NY, on Oct 22nd, in Manhattan, just before Photo Plus. We’re still trying to iron out a location. Kevin Swan will talk about branding and album sales. Mike Larson will talk about leadership and how it affects your business. Mike will then lead a photo shoot with a model in downtown Manhattan!

• The cost will be $140 per person, with a max of only 12 people.
• The seminar will be all day and include lunch.
• If you want to book, email Kevin@KissWeddingBooks.com

Get KISSed.

Kevin Swan Simple-Minded Director

765.894.5536 Super-Sexy Support Line

KISS Wedding Books Because Simple Is Hot.

Cathy and David are about to order their first KISS sample but couldn’t wait to get their hands on our product. Check out their sexy images and blog post!

While I was at the PUG Kevin showed me his new ‘album storage device’ and I asked if I could take some pictures of them for our blog. We’re getting ready to order our sample album to show to Brides and Grooms but I just couldn’t resist the opportunity to show people how ridiculously HOT these albums are! As well, not only are they super high quality but their customer service is just as awesome.

Kevin just switched over to some new leather, and if you haven’t had a chance to see it yet you won’t believe how nice and sexy it is! Thanks again to Kevin! I can’t wait to have one of these babies on hand to let people drool over!

And to the photographers who read our blog, seriously consider KISS books. You won’t be dissapointed!

Kiss books have SUPER-thick pages which we love.

The leather covers are just plain awesome!

They also come in these cute canvas storage bags. Such a neat idea!

Also they lie completely flat, without a black seam down the middle. SO NICE!!!

The KISS crew can’t get enough of Cathy and David. We can’t wait to work with you more! Thanks for the rockin’ blot post!

Thanks for KISSing!
Rachel : The Helpful Hottie

How cool is this idea? Wedoodledo recorded the unboxing of a book they ordered from us, so you can get their impressions unedited and unfiltered…

Here’s the link to their blog…

Bryan Mitchell has blogged about his second KISS book! He had a few troubles with his first (sample) book but has since perfected those color issues. He’s pumped to give his bride a book she is going to love!

Wow! Wow! Wow! My 2nd KISS wedding book arrived today and it’s Awesome! This one is for a client and she is going to love this book. The cover is great, the binding looks flawless, the printing is beautiful and the book just plain looks great!
My first book was my sample book and the color was a little off. A little to warm and a little to red and too dark. But it was mostly my fault with color issues and monitor calibration.

Anyway after working on the color, having some test prints made a couple times and working with the fine people at KISS I love the results.

Yes FINE people at KISS, Kevin is just plain AWESOME!

Answering all my emails, very quickly, working on my files and helping me to get the best results possible. Everyone talks about the customer service at KISS and it is spot on! Best customer service I have had in a long, long time.
I am so happy and can’t wait to do my next book.

We are so happy to have such a rockin’ customer like you, Bryan! We look forward to many more KISSes!

Thanks for KISSing!
Rachel : The Helpful Hottie

FOR NEW ORDERS ONLY!

New turn-around time for standard orders: 15 working days. Rush orders are still 5 days.

As we’ve ramped our production into full swing, we’ve learned some things over the past year. One of them has been in regard to how fast we can make a book. It’s true, we can technically flip a book in about 3 days–if absolutely nothing goes awry–but any hitch in the process can bring us to a halt.

To give a thumbnail sketch of how your books are built:

• The files are uploaded.
• We review every file, in detail, to determine if we think it will print properly.
• If not, we work with our clients to ensure they get the files to where they need to be
• Once the files are approved, they go to printing.
• If there is anything wrong with a print (scratch, color, dust, etc.) they are reprinted.
• Once we have good prints, they are creased for the fold.
• Sometimes, the creaser or the person running it makes a mistake–back to printing.
• Once the pages are creased, they are all hand-folded.
• If a page doesn’t lay down in the fold properly–back to printing.
• Once we have properly folded pages, they are hand-stacked onto the page backing.
• If the glue is uneven on the backing, which may cause a bump, the page is pulled and re-stacked.
• Once we have a stacked book, it is inspected for any problems (dust under a page, scratches, page order, etc.) If anything is not perfect, the page is pulled from the stack and sent back to printing.
• Once we have a stacked book that has been checked and approved, it goes into the hot press.
• When pulled from the hot press, it’s inspected again for bumps, scratches, etc. If anything is bad, that page is pulled and sent back to printing.
• Once we have a stacked and cooked book that looks good, it goes into the cool press.
• Once out of the cool press, it’s inspected again. Any defects are pulled from the book and sent back to printing.
• Once it clears the cool-press inspection, it is ready to be hand-cut.
• In cutting, many things can happen. A page can crack. The blade can have a defect that damages the book. The cut can be slightly off. Etc. If any of these things happen at this stage, it frequently means starting over.
• Once we have a properly cut book, it is covered. This stage is usually easy. (whew!)
• After it is covered, it is, again, inspected. If anything is amiss, it’s likely not fixable (sometimes it can be) and the book has to be remade from scratch.

Everyone at KISS was determined to help Katie DiSimone receive her (much needed) book this past Saturday. Here is a blog posting from Katie about the situation.

Just this weekend, I had a little (sarcasm, it was a BIG) problem with UPS delivering a package on time. Now, most of the time this would not be a big deal. But this particular package was boudoir album. A bride’s gift to her soon-to-be-husband and it needed to be given on their wedding day, that was the whole point of the gift. While normally we order these things well ahead of time, the bride and I had only shot this particular session about 2 weeks before the wedding. So we really had to hustle to edit the photos, select the favorites, design the album, and get it printed. And, wouldn’t you know it…their wedding day was Sunday, after UPS failed to deliver the package on Saturday.

I called my ever wonderful album company, KISS wedding books. They sent people into their shop in SoCal that same day (a Saturday, a day when they aren’t normally open) to start making a replacement and drive it to my house 5 hours away. Can you believe that kind of customer service?! It is unheard of these days. And, I am just pleased as punch to say that I work with them. Not to mention that their albums are the best thing since sliced bread.

So, I thought I’d share a new clip of just how excited the WHOLE house is when one of their packages arrive. The girls are always super excited to see a new wedding album. The smell of that leather is just plain seducing.

Not only did Katie blog about this experience but you can also find a post she submitted on this forum. She claims we deserve world domination! Impressive!

We are SO glad you received your book in time, Katie! We’ll do anything for such a sweetheart like yourself

Thanks for KISSing!
Rachel : The Helpful Hottie

Kristy McSwain (what a fun last name!) sent us an email about her first experience with KISS!

Greetings to the KISS Team!

I just wanted to send a quick email saying thank you so much for the great album. Ordering an album with a new company is always a little tense since you never truly know what the outcome is going to be, but ordering from you guys has been such a pleasure. I am more than thrilled with my book and can’t wait to show it off to new clients. Once again, thank you for the great customer service throughout the ordering process, and kudos for a job well down on my best album ever!

We can’t wait to have more of your designs come our way. You rock, girl!

Thanks for KISSing!
Rachel : The Helpful Hottie

Some of you have experienced a delay in your orders recently due to a lack of leather for your particular book. Since this is the 3rd time Italy has left us in a difficult situation, Shaun and I have secured a new importer who is based in the states. This has several benefits for you guys:

1) the leather delays should end

2) the quality of some of the colors will increase (wait till you see the new red!).

3) we’ll finally have swatch rings within 4 weeks.

In the mean time, as we straddle the 2 stools of the importers, it’s taken a little time to get them to manufacture our covers to our exact specifications. Now that we’re past that hurdle, they’re making covers as quick as they can and we’ve got thousands of dollars of orders placed that are on their way to our shop in California. We’re stocking up as fast as they can make the covers. We’re getting new shipments in every week and our leather shelves are looking healthier and healthier as the weeks go on.

The hides are still 100% leather. Some of the colors are still coming from Italy, others from Canada (like green), etc. The quality will be at least as good as what we’ve had, in some cases better.

For those of you who have experienced any delay, we’re upgrading your shipping.

On a positive note, we’re going to lock down 5 colors (black, brown, red, green, blue) and have 1 color that changes every year. We may even let users vote on what color they’d like to see next! I will post a few samples of possibilities, but we have hot pink and white in the running.

Swatch rings will be available soon. They’ll appear in the store as something you can add to your shopping cart and I’ll blog about them here as well.

Thanks for KISSing!
Kevin Swan : Simple-Minded Director

Here’s some good deals for good KISSers:

• DoodleDo, one of our design parnters, has offered some free design. Click here!
• Triple Scoop Music, the TOP resource for rockin’ royalty-free music for photographers, has issued a discount code: getsimple, which will give you 10% off through 12/31/08.
• Mike Larson, one of our sponsored photographers, has announced his latest 2-day “Step It UP” seminar, in Vegas, 10/6/08 – 10/7/08 with the ever-talented Brittany Hanson. It’s $495, but if you tell them KISS sent you, you get 10% off!

Woo!